Can Kellan Lutz Carry A Movie Where Everyone Is Gay And He’s Persecuted For Falling In Love With Camilla Belle?

In some ways, I’m surprised that it’s taken til 2012 for a movie like All You Need Is Love? to happen: In this alternate future, homosexuality is the norm and people are persecuted for being (shudder) attracted to members of the opposite sex. The indie drama seems to be an ensemble piece, but two fairly high-profile stars have already signed on: Camilla Belle (whose upcoming projects include I Brake for Gringos) and Twilight‘s Kellan Lutz.

What’s most interesting is their characters: Camilla plays “a star quarterback,” while Kellan is the aspiring journalist sent to interview her. I guess the people in this alternate future are genderqueer in addition to gay. It’s definitely attention-grabbing, the idea of these two carrying on a secret, sordid straight romance while Camilla’s character is in the public eye. What I’m a little confused about is how old these guys are supposed to play: Calling her a quarterback immediately hearkens back to high school, not to mention that THR describes them as getting “bullied” once their forbidden love is found out. But he’s 27 and she’s 25.

Personally, I think the movie would be most effective if the actors are playing adults. High school romance is so fraught with criticisms about cliques and stuff already, the whole “gay is the norm” twist would get lost. That said, I’m just really cautious about All You Need is Love?—can we trust this movie to follow through on its seeming promise to tell a daring love story that challenges sex and gender norms? The casting of Kellan seems especially problematic; he comes off as a goof, though Camilla has the gravitas for a nontraditional role like this. Of course, as we learned from Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone‘s awkward chemistry in The Amazing Spider-Man, sometimes goofiness makes a love story that much more realistic and relatable.

Would you trust these two actors with what could be an incredibly impactful LGBT film?